


Flexibility Comes at a Cost

by queerwriterbee



Series: Pynch Week 2018 [7]
Category: Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: Adam is a slight fanboy, Alternate Universe - Boxing, Alternate Universe - Sports, Alternate Universe - Yoga, Boxer!Ronan, Everyone Is Gay, Henry is too sexual all the time, M/M, Mutual Pining, Pining, Pynch Week, Pynch Week 2018, Ronan gets flustered and embarrassed, Sports, Traditions, Yoga, Yogi!Adam, super gay, the usual, you know
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-22
Updated: 2018-08-22
Packaged: 2019-07-01 05:05:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,270
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15767193
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/queerwriterbee/pseuds/queerwriterbee
Summary: “Hello, everyone,” the man said to the class as he set up at the front of the room.Ronan felt his heart speed up when the man bent down to turn on the music on his phone, showing off his toned ass in his leggings.“I’m Adam Parrish and I’ll be your yogi for today’s class.(Pynch Week Day 7: Traditions)





	Flexibility Comes at a Cost

**Author's Note:**

> I've had this idea for a bit and definitely bended the definition of traditions to fit it :P Enjoy!

The tradition of Wednesday night yoga had started with Ronan being too embarrassed to go to a yoga class by himself and insisting that if his coach and manager were going to make him start yoga, he’d need to have at least two other people go with him. 

It wasn’t so much that he was embarrassed to be doing yoga in and of itself, but that he knew he was going to be absolute shit at it and if he had to embarrass himself in public, he needed at least two of his friends to be embarrassed. 

It turned out to be pretty easy to convince his friends to accompany him to that first class. Noah, a fellow boxer and friend under the same management as Ronan, figured that he probably needed to added balance and flexibility too. Gansey, his agent and longtime best friend, felt guilty agreeing with Ronan’s coach about attending the classes and joined him like the good mother hen that he was. Henry, his PR manager and unfortunate friend by association, had said something about flexibility being good in bed or some shit. Ronan had tuned out pretty quickly once he realized where the conversation was heading. 

The four had been surprised by how much they enjoyed the class and after the second class decided to make it something that they committed to weekly. Ronan enjoyed how much strength training he got from the activity while also improving his balance and flexibility as well as how calming the mental portion of the class was. Ronan had always struggled to manage his emotions--especially after the passing of both his parents-- and the mental clarity that he found during the yoga sessions had started leaking into his life outside of them. Not to mention the improvements to his boxing he’d seen since picking up the routine. 

He hated to admit it, but his coach was right to suggest it. 

His friends seemed to agree with Ronan on all accounts--though Henry still put too much focus on how it benefited his sexual encounters and he was pretty sure Gansey’s crush on their instructor (her name was Blue; of course Gansey would fall for a girl with a name like that) had more than a little to do with his enthusiasm for the class. 

The week before, Blue had announced that she would be switching to a different time slot for her class and that they would be getting a new instructor. Gansey, of course, had been disappointed (though he used it as an excuse to finally get the girl’s number), and Ronan--always a skeptic of change-- was a little salty about it. But, their regular class time was too convenient for them all to change and it had become a tradition at this point. None of them wanted to change it and risk losing the tradition to the abruptness of change to their schedules. 

However, Ronan’s discomfort with the change soon evaporated when he saw the man who was to be their new instructor. 

“Hello, everyone,” the man said to the class as he set up at the front of the room. Ronan felt his heart speed up when the man bent down to turn on the music on his phone, showing off his toned ass in his leggings. 

“I’m Adam Parrish and I’ll be your yogi for today’s class. For those of you who are regulars to this class time, I know that Blue told you about her schedule change and I’m sure she’ll be duly missed by many of you,” Gansey nodded minutely at this. Ronan rolled his eyes. “Though I hope that you will find my teaching style suitable for your needs and if not, I’m always open to suggestions for change. Let's begin with a down dog to stretch out our shoulders and calves, shall we?”

The class was the both too long and too short of an experience. Ronan found himself completely out of balance, struggling and generally making a fool of himself, the whole sixty minutes of class because he just couldn’t get a grip on all the feelings this Adam was causing to stir within him. He wanted the class to be over so he could go home and groan into his pillow until he felt his mortification die out. 

But, every time he made a mistake, Adam would come over to help him adjust, placing those beautiful hands on Ronan’s body--sometimes on his bare skin-- and move him into the right position. Each touch was intoxicating and he was constantly craving more (once Adam had gripped Ronan’s hips to lift them higher for a position and, to his mortification, Ronan felt himself chub up just the slightest because of it). The hands-on guidance plus the sight of Adam’s lithe, muscled body in motion was an indulgence Ronan just couldn’t help but revel in. 

Ronan had exited the class as soon as the words, “namaste,” left Adam’s mouth. He felt so flustered and embarrassed and _ fucking turned on as hell _ ; he couldn’t stay in the same room as that beautiful man one second longer or he was sure he would spontaneously combust. 

“So, was I the only one who noticed what a  _ babe _ our new yogi was?” Henry said once they were in the Pig. “Like,  _ goddamn _ , right?

Ronan wanted to strangle Henry and he hated himself for it. 

“He was quite a looker, wasn’t he?” Gansey said. 

“Totally,” Noah chimed in. “Definitely wouldn’t mind putting my flexibility to use with him.” 

Ronan’s face was bright red and his anger was boiling. Fuck, he knew he’d been thinking the exact same things but that didn’t mean he wanted to hear them  _ out loud _ . Nor did he want even the suggestion of competition with the man (even if he probably would just let the feelings fester and then do nothing about them). 

“I rather liked his teaching style, too,” Gansey continued as he pulled onto the road. “He’s no Blue, obviously, but, I really liked the shamanic nature to the spirtual aspect of the class. I never knew such a focus on connecting to the earth would be so… grounding.” 

Gansey caught Ronan’s eye in the mirror and before Ronan could look away and pretend he hadn’t seen him, he asked:

“What’d you think about him, Ronan? He seemed to be giving you quite a bit of attention during class.”

“Yeah, Ronan,” Noah turned from where he sat in the passenger seat and gave him a knowing look, waggling his eyebrows and generally pissing Ronan off. “What’d you think of Adam?”

Ronan turned his head to look out the window, crossing his arms over his chest and forcing indifference into his tone. 

“He was pretty decent, I guess.” 

“Oh, yeah. Pretty is definitely the right word for Yogi Parrish.” 

Ronan punched Henry’s arm a little too hard and ignored his friends for the rest of the drive back to Monmouth Manufacturing. He couldn’t get Adam out of his mind for the rest of the night. 

 

Nor could he for the rest of the week, it turned out. Ronan found his mind turning to Adam every undistracted moment of his day.

Between sets at the gym, he was imagining Adam’s toned arms and ass, his thighs thick with muscle, his defined abs that peaked out from his loose tank top every now and then. 

Between rounds at his match that week his mind drifted to Adam’s gorgeous hands--large and long-fingered with knobby knuckles and just overall perfect. He wondered how they’d look bruised from sparring a few rounds and found himself at half mast while getting a fucking pep talk in a boxing ring with thousands of spectators. 

As he waited for his chicken quesadilla to heat up in the microwave, he was lost in thought about Adam’s smile and the lush lips that framed it, the dusting of freckles on his face and shoulders, his dusty waves that fell into his eyes and framed his slender neck. How badly he wanted to kiss the freckles, run his hands through that hair, be the reason for that beautiful smile. 

By the time Wednesday came back around, Ronan was on the edge of his mental stability. It was like Adam was a drug that Ronan now had a taste for and needed just one more hit. Walking into the studio to see Adam rolling out his mat and his hair tied back into a bun at his nape was like a breath of fresh air.

As Ronan and his friends set up at their usual space in the center of the studio, Ronan studied Adam in his pre-class stretches with reverence. He was in a perfect split when Ronan looked up after setting up his mat. He was folding his torso forward, completely flush to the floor and his arms outstretched so that his fingers wrapped firmly around the arch of his foot. 

Ronan swallowed thickly and willed his body to calm the fuck down for once in its fucking life. 

“Jesus take the wheel,” Ronan heard Henry say under his breath. He punched the other in the arm and didn’t feel even a little bit sorry when Henry whined at the unexpected pain. 

Ronan had been practicing his poses in his spare time during the week. He didn’t want to be a fumbling mess again this class--no matter how much he loved Adam’s touches--or be so distracted that he wouldn’t benefit from the exercise. He couldn’t let his crush ruin this great thing he’d found. 

 

The class went mostly without a hitch and Ronan was pretty proud of himself for not being a fucking loser over Adam this time (though, there were one or two instances where he missed a position because he was too busy watching Adam’s hands… just…  _ fuck _ ). With some practice in self-restraint over his gay ass and his fucking feelings, Ronan was sure he could manage the crush well enough to not totally ruin the experience of yoga.

He was all packed up and ready to follow his friends out the door and down to the car when he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned to find himself face to face with Adam and his heart speeding up without his permission. He prayed that his cheeks weren’t as pink as their heat implied. 

“Ronan, right?” Adam asked, giving him a shy smile.

Ronan nodded, swallowing hard and hoping that Adam didn’t notice. 

“Y-yeah… and you’re Adam.” 

_ FUCK. _

Adam chuckled. “That’s right. I just wanted to tell you that you really improved from last class. It’s rather impressive actually.”

Ronan ran his hand over his short buzz and ducked his head. 

“Yeah, well, I not normally as I was last week. I’ve actually been taking these classes for a couple of months… I was just, ah, a bit distracted.” 

Adam nodded, humming in understanding. 

“I also wanted to say that, well, I think it’s really cool that you’re taking yoga classes,” now Adam ducked his head, his cheeks tinged red under his freckles. “I watch your matches sometimes and I was surprised when I recognized you in class. Most guys think they’re too macho or whatever for yoga, especially guys in contact sports like boxing. It’s kind of impressive… I don’t know, I just really appreciated you being here and the effort you’re putting in.” 

Ronan was an utter loss for words. Adam knew who he was? Adam watched his matches? Adam  _ appreciated his effort _ ? Fuck, Ronan was going practicing every week before class if it made Adam smile like that. 

When he finally found his words it was because Adam looked like he was growing uncomfortable and the last thing Ronan wanted was to make Adam feel like he couldn’t talk to him. 

“Wow,” he breathed. “I just mean--you? Being impressed? By me? Have you seen yourself? Like, you’re a human pretzel or something. And I’ll never get a handle of balance poses outside of handstands and crow pose… like. Just. Wow.”

Adam laughed, the act brightening his whole face. Ronan was swooning. 

“Well, I practice a lot. It’s been really healing for me. I’ve had a rough couple of years, and while I never thought yoga would be something I would be called to do, Blue suggested it back when we were in high school together and it just clicked. You know?”

Ronan nodded. “Yeah, I feel that. The mental clarity and focus has really helped me--in my matches and in just, like, life in general.”

Adam beamed. “That makes me so happy.”

Ronan gave him a shy smile, rubbing his neck with his hand bashfully. “It’s no problem, Parrish.”

Adam turned then, going to his bag and pulling out a notebook and pen. He scribbled something and tore off a bit of the paper before turning back to Ronan. 

“This is my number. Maybe we could meet up for a private practice sometime?”

Ronan took the paper, looking at it like the holy grail. 

“Fuck… yeah. That’d be… that’d be fucking great.”

“Awesome,” Adam said. “I have to get ready for the next class, but… text me, ok?”

Ronan nodded his head vigorously, making Adam smile brighter, before turning to make his way toward the door. 

“See you later, Parrish.”

“Looking forward to it, Lynch.”

Ronan was grinning at the paper with Adam’s number on when he reached his friends, just barely able to pull his gaze away from it before colliding into Gansey’s side. 

Henry smirked. “Pretty decent, huh?”

Ronan glared. “Shut the fuck up, Cheng.”


End file.
